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Haematological health assessment in a passerine with extremely high proportion of basophils in peripheral blood Michal Vinkler, Jan Schnitzer, Pavel Munclinger, Jan Votýpka, Tomáš Albrecht To cite this version: Michal Vinkler, Jan Schnitzer, Pavel Munclinger, Jan Votýpka, Tomáš Albrecht. Haematological health assessment in a passerine with extremely high proportion of basophils in peripheral blood. Journal für Ornithologie = Journal of Ornithology, Springer Verlag, 2010, 151 (4), pp.841-849. 10.1007/s10336-010-0521-0. hal-00582602 HAL Id: hal-00582602 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00582602 Submitted on 2 Apr 2011 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. 1 Title: 2 Haematological health assessment in a passerine with extremely high proportion of 3 basophils in peripheral blood 4 5 Authors: 6 Michal Vinkler (1, 3), Jan Schnitzer (1), Pavel Munclinger (1), Jan Votýpka (2) and Tomáš 7 Albrecht (1, 3) 8 9 Addresses: 10 1) Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Viničná 7, 11 Prague, CZ-128 44, Czech Republic 12 2) Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Viničná 7, 13 Prague, CZ-128 44, Czech Republic 14 3) Institute of Vertebrate Biology, v.v.i., Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, 15 Studenec 122, CZ-675 02, Czech Republic 16 17 Author for correspondence: 18 Michal Vinkler, Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, 19 Viničná 7, Prague, CZ-128 44, Czech Republic 20 e-mail: [email protected] 21 Tel.: +420 221 95 18 39 22 Fax: +420 221 95 18 41 23 24 Word count: 6381 25 1 26 Abstract 27 Haematological methods are widely utilized among avian ecologists as a means for individual 28 health assessment. However, the technical simplicity of some of the tests may easily lead to 29 oversimplification of the evaluation. Here we show in the Scarlet rosefinch (Carpodacus 30 erythrinus) that haematological parameters other than the widely used heterophil/lymphocyte 31 (H/L) ratio may be important to investigate. We give the full description of seven basic 32 haematological traits (leukocyte differential count, immature erythrocyte count, haematocrit, 33 mean cell volume, total red and white blood cell count and blood parasite occurrence). Most 34 remarkably, the examination of 178 adults and 155 nestlings has revealed that this species has 35 an extraordinarily high proportion of basophils in the peripheral blood (on average about 42% 36 and 56% respectively). Although the high basophil count is a general trait even in healthy 37 individuals of this species, the proportion of these cells is condition-dependent and is further 38 increased by Haemoproteus infection. Our results also suggest that the immature erythrocyte 39 count in the peripheral blood is a good predictor of the nestlings’ growth rate. We conclude 40 that the rosefinch haematology differs strikingly from other avian species with known values 41 of basic haematological parameters. We therefore emphasize the importance of a general 42 haematological examination, based on material obtained by an appropriate method (e.g. for 43 smear preparation, we recommend using differential staining and avoiding prior methanol 44 fixation). 45 46 47 Key words 48 Avian immunity, basophilic granulocyte, hematology, hematocrit, leucocyte differential 49 count, packed cell volume, polychromatic erythrocyte. 50 2 51 Introduction 52 Health has a major effect on body condition and vigour, which consequently determines 53 individual fitness. Adoption of appropriate methods that enable a reliable estimation of health 54 is therefore of crucial importance to most ecological and evolutionary research. Although 55 there are various ways to investigate health, the most widely used method for health 56 assessment is the basic haematological survey (Ardia and Schat 2008). The main procedure 57 for a haematological survey is to determine the cellular composition of blood. In avian 58 peripheral blood, there are five morphologically distinguishable types of leukocytes present: 59 lymphocytes, heterophils, basophils, eosinophils and monocytes (Lucas and Jamroz 1961). 60 Normal values of cellular proportions may differ among species (Campbell and Ellis 2007; 61 Davis 2009) and may also vary between free-living and captive-held birds (Ewenson et al. 62 2001). In most bird species with published values of haematological traits, however, only 63 lymphocytes and heterophils are detected in sufficient numbers to enable reliable 64 interindividual comparison (the combined number of lymphocytes and heterophils typically 65 accounts for 85-95% of all leukocytes in a blood smear; Davis 2009). Several studies have 66 documented that the ratio of lymphocytes and heterophils (H/L) may reliably indicate stress 67 (El Lethey et al. 2003; Davis et al. 2008) as well as infection status for some diseases (Davis 68 et al. 2004; Chakarov et al. 2008; Fokidis et al. 2008; Norte et al. 2009a). These findings have 69 led avian ecologists to use the H/L ratio as general measurement of health status, which is 70 quick, repeatable, and easy to obtain (Ots et al. 1998; Ardia and Schat 2008). 71 72 Despite the growing number of haematological studies in birds (e.g. see Moreno et al. 1998; 73 Hauptmanová et al. 2002; Uhart et al. 2003; Sergent et al. 2004; Friedl and Edler 2005; Davis 74 et al. 2004; Mercurio et al. 2008) data on blood cellular composition are still only available 75 for a limited number of passerine species. In contrast to the known variability (e.g. 3 76 interspecific or linked to age and sex) and fluctuations (e.g. due to stress, season or health 77 changes) in heterophil and lymphocyte counts, the variability among other cell types is often 78 considered as only minor and rare (Maxwell 1981; Dufva and Allander 1995; Scope et al. 79 2002; Dubiec et al. 2005; Lobato et al. 2005; Davis 2005, Norte et al. 2009a; Norte et al. 80 2009b). Nevertheless, certain illnesses induce quantitative changes in the number of 81 basophils, eosinophils and monocytes that are comparable to the changes observed in 82 lymphocytes and heterophils (see e.g. Fudge 1989; Campbell and Ellis 2007). 83 84 Detailed studies of the composition of avian blood cells can offer more information than is 85 usually considered. Aside from the common methods of estimating proportions of leukocytes 86 and quantities of blood-borne cells (described either as absolute counts or as haematocrit; Ots 87 et al. 1998), determining the blood cell dynamics may be equally valuable. For instance, 88 immature erythrocyte count can reveal the presence of anaemic diseases (Campbell and Ellis 89 2007) and there is some toxicological evidence suggesting potential importance of this trait 90 for wildlife studies (see Yamato et al. 1996; Belskii et al. 2005; Carleton 2008). However, to 91 our knowledge there has been no effort in avian ecology to examine the health-predictive 92 potential of peripheral blood immature erythrocyte count in free-living birds. 93 94 In this study we investigated the basic haematological traits in the Scarlet rosefinch 95 (Carpodacus erythrinus). The Scarlet rosefinch is a small sexually dichromatic passerine 96 belonging to the subfamily Carduelinae (Cramp et al. 1994). A remarkable feature of this 97 species is the especially long distance and direction of its migration. The wintering grounds 98 are located in the southern part of Asia (Cramp et al. 1994), lying in a distance of 99 approximately 5 500 km from the breeding grounds in central Europe. Thus, the energetically 100 costly migration may be expected to pose a powerful selection on health related traits in this 4 101 species (Albrecht et al. 2007). Here we present data on the leukocyte differential count, total 102 counts of leukocytes and erythrocytes, haematocrit, blood parasites, and the proportion of 103 immature blood cells. Most of the traits are reported in adults as well as in seven-day-old 104 hatchlings. Chosen haematological traits were correlated with morphological condition- 105 dependent traits and blood borne parasite infection status to assess their convenience for 106 general health prediction in this species. 107 108 109 Materials and methods 110 Field procedures 111 The research was carried out on a Scarlet rosefinch population breeding in the Vltava river 112 valley, Šumava National Park, southern Bohemia, Czech Republic (N 48°48’–48°50’, E 113 13°55’–13°57’, ~730 m above sea level; for more detailed description see Albrecht 2004). 114 This population numbers at least 200 breeding pairs (Šťastný et al. 2006) and represents the 115 western edge of the breeding grounds for this species (Risberg and Stjernberg 1997). In five 116 successive seasons (2004-2008) we examined the basic haematological traits of 178 Scarlet 117 rosefinch adults (110 males, 68 females) and 155 nestlings (not all traits were examined in 118 every individual). 119 In each season samples were collected during the pre-breeding (second half of May) and 120 breeding (second half of June) periods. Adult birds were captured into standard ornithological 121 mist nets, either with the lure (stuffed male Scarlet rosefinch skin) or by chance in the 122 surrounding of their putative breeding spot. After capture, each bird was placed into a fabric 123 bag, weighed using a spring balance (MicroLine 20060, 60g, d=0.5g; Pesola AG, Baar, 124 Switzerland) and a sample of blood (about 20-70μl) was collected by puncturing the brachial 125 vein.
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